A big milestone, engine and tranny are back in car. Thanks to all who have helped me get this far.

I have reconnected clutch cable before anything else as I want to make sure this whole thing with the arm is correct.

I now have 3/4 -1" play when pulling pedal up. I think there is still enough slack in cable that excess pressure is not on TOB.

When pedal fully depressed to floor there is about 3/8" (rough measure) remaining before arm would hit the trans case. Here is pic of cable end.

Does everything sound like it is within spec?

Thx

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And here is engine finally back in its place with 40 years of grunge removed.

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Fantastic.
You will be fine with your setup.

Keep at it.

Nice job. Looks great.

Didn't you put the headers on yet? Much easier to do with the engine out.

Nice work! Its fun to put it all together.

Not yet. In another thread someone said to do exhaust and exchangers after engine back in. Always an adventure!

Looks good! Keep at it.

Quiz question and real question,

Quiz: If you look closely at the engine picture there is a problem I had to correct before proceeding further. What is it?

Actual question: After installing shift rod (I also have new Tangerine Shift Rod bearing and did grind down the coupler for clearance) I am unable to hit 4th or 5th gear. I am thinking this is a shift linkage adjustment issue? I can hit the other gears.

Thx.

Are you testing this with the engine running? If so, can you put it into reverse? If you're testing this without the engine running, what you think is first gear might actually be third and you may need to make an adjustment at the shifter to et the full pattern back. There are lots of threads about how to do that, but the most important thing is to mark where the bolts are now so you have a baseline to return to if you get lost fiddling.

When you put the heat exchangers on, don't bolt them up tight until you make sure the muffler bracket lines up properly. And be really careful not to lean or put pressure on the exchangers before the bracket is on...lots of leverage there and it doesn't take much force to damage the heads.

The half shafts are connected to the transmission. Unless the rear trailing arms are off, they will have to be removed before installation.

Engine not running yet, maybe I'll attend to that before coming back to shift linkage.

Axles are actually connected at the trailing arms but not yet the trany.

Big Hint to the quiz. I was unable to install the shift rod.

Engine support bar is flipped so the hole is on the wrong side . Pic is very dark on my iThing so it was tough to see. Been ther. Done that!

And you (obviously) don't have to be running to verify the shift pattern. Just a foolproof way to know reverse is there. I'm a fool, so...

Yup, that is it. Did not notice until after I had routed cables through the hole and connected clutch cable. Fortunately, not a huge deal to correct.

So, I loosened rod retainer at shifter. Pushed lever to right, turned rod clockwise and retightened. Based on marks it really did not seem to move much if at all. Still, I now have all gears. I'll chalk that up to dumb luck.

Just another before and after pic

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Is it running yet?

Darn close but not there yet. Went to put muffler on today and discovered PP sent wrong gaskets.

I need to:
bleed brakes and set the clearance in rear.
Hook up fuel lines in rear, put fuel in tank.
Attach muffler.
Fire her up.

Even though I ran new lines for fuel tank the 3 port pump is still up front. I dread pulling tank again but may replace pump with two port version while tank is empty before I start her.

I think I am basically finished.

Tonight I put the muffler on, bled the new rear calipers, and put on the air cleaner, reconnected remaining vac lines.

While I probably could have poured in some fuel and started her up I decided that it makes sense to pull the tank again, as much as I do not want to, so I can replace the 3 port fuel pump with the new 2-port version. While it delays me a bit, still better than discovering a fuel leak and having to drain the tank.

Maybe tomorrow unless the spouse already has my day planned out for me with other things.

Keep going, you are almost there.

The answer to this seems obvious but since the repercussion of getting it wrong is high I will ask the stupid question.

The bunch of red wires that attaches to the battery terminal. That does go on the positive terminal, correct?

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Yes

yes they go to the positive terminal on the battery

Status!

Thwarted by a $5 part.

New fuel pump is in, tank is back in. For the new pump I need about 2' of 1/2 inch fuel hose between pump inlet and filter that is also used as step down.


After checking a half dozen FLAPS, I wound up ordering the needed hose from RockAuto. Probably will not be here until Wednesday. Oh well, that gives me time to adjust the rear calipers.

Do yourself a favor and fuse those unfused circuits. Project is looking good. I like your "other" cars website, too.

What do you recommend? In line fuse on each wire, something else. What amperage are they and where do they lead to?

Thx

So close...

What other cars website?

That would be, www.amphicar770.com

OK guys, advice needed.

Got fuel system hooked up last night. Today I went to start her up. She is still on jackstands at the rear.

After cranking for a bit she did fire up. Idle is good. Not sure if it sounded "right", had me wondering if firing on all cylinders. I turned her off.

Went back a bit later. Started her up. She started, did a loud backfire through the exhaust and stopped. I have not tried starting again.

Hopefully nothing with the valve adjust. Am wondering if I could have crossed some spark plug wires. Is there a good diagram mapping position of wire on distributor to matching cylinder?

Anything else I should consider?

Ok, just started it again. A slight miss then seemed ok. I put a video here (crappy) but take a listen. Does it sound right to you?
https://youtu.be/rYpMaJCDyes

Thanks,

Mike

Here is a second video. I start her cold and she starts right up. However, as I depress the accelerator you can hear the backfire. Ideas appreciated.

https://youtu.be/olyeeDuJh0k

Not all four, start with the basics to make sure you have spark at every cylinder, then pull the valve covers and wiggle all the rockers

On the rockers, what am I checking for when I wiggle them? I presume I am looking to see that the rods are properly seated?

I have confirmed that wires are correct from plugs to distributor.

For testing plugs, just use an inline spark plug tester???

Thanks. Really frustrating after getting this far.

For what it is worth:

Plugs (NGK), Wires (Magnecor), Distributor cap and rotor (rev limiting) are all new.

NOS MPS and NOS Decelleration valve.

New wiring harness from Bruce.

Adjusted valves when I did the pushrod tubes (they were pretty close, only minor adjustment)

Injectors are new, although I had installed them and used them prior to engine drop.

New fuel pump, all new fuel lines.

New HTS

Has pertronix (or similar under the cap).

I did not do anything with ignition timing but also have not checked it since engine back in.

The TPS board is new but again, was replaced prior to engine drop and was working.

Vacuum hoses are all new as are gaskets under the throttle body.

If you hav a timing light I would suggest you cli it on each plug wire to see if it's doing its thing...

For th rockers, take off the valve cover...
There are four rockers.....is one different?
Look for obvious.

From what I hear, something is very loose in the valve train.

Rich

Plug wires: If the distributor drive is in the "correct" orientation, the two plug wires on the left side must cross over each other. (Left-front tower on the cap goes to left-rear spark plug.) The two plug wires on the right do not have to cross. (Right-front cap tower goes to right-front plug.)

--DD

Good point, it's something WE ALL have done.

Firing order is 1432 clockwise when looking down on top of the distributor cap.
1 will be closest to the middle of the fan housing.

Found one of your earlier postings and checked that this evening. Wires are going to proper plug. (even removed the air cleaner just to make sure I was following the wires correctly).

Did not see anything unusual when I removed valve covers. Rods are seated in rockers. I did not rotate engine but some have play, others do not as would be expected based on engine position. When I did do valve adjust, none were off by very much.

I did not adjust or check ignition timing but I suppose it is possible that the distributor moved and I should check that as well??

One is not firing.
Firing order wrong would do that.

Loud backfire could mean raw fuel in exhaust.
That could mean one of the valves is not closing properly.
So, it might feel like it's ok, but it's possible one of the push rods is not seated properly in the lifter and is sitting sort of on the edge of the cup.

When the valve is closed, you should be able to reach under each rocker and Spin each push rod all the way around, easily and with no resistance....because there should be a valid gap for th tappets.

Rich

If one of the push rods won't spin, loosen it up at the adjuster while trying to spin it....it may seat.

OK, I think I get what you are saying.

When the valve is closed the pushrod is not compressed and that is when it should spin easily. Presumably I should not be able to spin the pushrod when valve is open, correct?

After I check the two closed, I should rotate the engine until I can check the other two, correct?

Thanks again. May not be able to get back to it before Friday.

All yes basically

Others will chime in but....


Valves or timing would be my first quess.

Doesn't sound right.

Just did the "spin test" on two of the pushrods and they pass. Too tired and frustrated to deal with the others right now. They are a major PIA to even reach with engine back in car as the exchangers are in the way and I have no desire to remove those and the muffler again.

I sure wish it had been something as simple as crossed plug wires. Any other simple checks? Could rotor be installed wrong? (I doubt it, just groping at straws).

Right now I am going, "Why did I sell the MR2 Turbo that never needed anything more than oil changes".

Just read that you have a Pertronix.

Do you have a stock setup that you can throw in to rule it out?

It has had the Pertronix (or equivalent) in there since before I bought it. No problems before I pulled the engine.

This morning I quickly connected timing light pick up to each plug wire and they all light up. Did not have time to check timing. I thought about putting old cap, wires, rotor back on but that seems like a long shot.

Unless some electrical but not connected I think everyone is right. Either ignition timing is way off or (more likely) I mucked up the valve adjust or reinstall of the rods (I was pretty certain they were seated properly but who knows). This weekend I will spin test the rods as suggested and check ignition timing.

I'll continue chasing down ideas anyone has so keep em coming. If I do need to pull the valve adjust assembly again it may be time to pay someone to do it. If I mucked it up with engine out, I doubt I will do better with engine in. If any of you who can do this in your sleep happen to be near collegeville, PA do let me know and I will gladly pay for your assistance. Else, there is a shop not too far that I can trailer it to.

Thanks for the advice and moral support!

A stock valve adjustment means that, when cold, the rocker arms will have play that you can feel when the cylinder is at TDC. So you don't have to try reaching the pushrods, just wiggle the rocker arms. If they wiggle, there is play. If they don't, then the valve is probably being held open.

--DD

Sorry Dave but I will need to correct this.

You can adjust the valves with the pushrods not seated properly so the rockers feel fine.

If you would like to confirm that the pushrods are properly seated, you will need to see if you can freely spin them because if you do spin one that is not seated properly, it will fall into the seat....

But, I noticed you are about the bring it to a shop for the final setup....

If you hooked a timing light up to each plug wire and got a signal then your problem is probably not spark. The engine sounds like its running on 3 cylinders, Try pulling plug wires off one at a time while it is running to see if you can isolate the cylinder. It could be that you have a loose connection on one of the injectors. If you have a push rod that isn't in the cup the amount of thread exposed on the adjuster screw should look different than the rest of them.

Try removing the wires to the plugs one by one when it is running, if it gets worse, place it back, not the one. If no difference ...check that cilinder/valves and/or sparkplug.-->in this case injector......injector seated properly ?

Pull the injector connectors out of the injectors one at a time while the engine is running.
They should each affect the rpm equally, except if one cylinder isn't firing.

Thanks all. I will try the suggested (although probably can not get to it today). I will be a happy camper if it turns out to be something as simple as a loose injector connector!